Community helps seed new veteran service center

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Upstate Warrior Solution is building out plans for a veterans’ service center thanks to a series of local donations.

The nonprofit initiated plans for the project following a $500,000 donation from the Rupert Huse Charitable Fund in 2021. The Upstate community matched this gift with $1 million, according to a news release.

The resource center will be named in honor of Huse and will be used to facilitate Upstate Warrior Solution in tracking local rates of veteran suicide, unemployment and homelessness, and collaborate with community partners to find solutions for these challenges, the news release said.

“My husband, Steve, and I are pleased to pay tribute to my father, Rupert Huse, who served honorably in the U.S. Army as he was also starting his career and family,” Greenville City Councilmember Dorothy Dowe, Huse’s daughter, said in the release. “Dad evolved to love his time in the military and held tremendous respect for our country's veterans throughout his life. We are excited to see Upstate Warrior Solution use this gift to create a center to serve our local veterans and their families.”

Key partners from the public, private and nonprofit sectors will be co-located at the center in an effort to improve collaboration and streamline veteran care, while broadening the number of veterans served by the nonprofit each year.

“Upstate Warrior Solution has been a leader in this space for almost a decade, and we are proud to support their efforts to build a strong network of veteran service providers in Greenville,” Bob Morris, president of the Community Foundation of Greenville, said in the release.

The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs’ sanctioned Upstate Veteran Alliance Network, of which Upstate Warrior Solution is a lead organization, is a partner on the project.

“Upstate Veteran Alliance Network is one of four Community Veteran Engagement Boards in the state of South Carolina, and Upstate Warrior Solution was instrumental in starting this network in 2016 and helping sustain it today,” Kevin McBride, Upstate Veteran Alliance Network co-chair and director of Prisma Health’s Military and Government Liaison Office, said in the release. “The Veteran Resource Center will be a physical gathering space for all members of the Upstate Veteran Alliance Network community, and we are grateful to Upstate Warrior Solution for running point on this outstanding project.”